DTSCDS

The "chamois" is a padded section in the crotchal area of the bibs/shorts. It is a rather thin pad so don't expect much cushion. It provides enough cushion to lesson the harshness of the more firm seat you should be using but also is absorbent to wick away sweat.

contango 

Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue. If you can figure out what sort of day it is before you set off it can help.

One thing I do when looking at food to take on a ride is consider the calories they contain and the calories I'm burning. At my weight I reckon on ~40 calories per mile of cycling, reducing to 30 if I'm taking it easy (riding with a couple of weaker friends, for example) and maybe 50 if I'm really caning it. So after 50 miles I'd reckon on having burned 1500-2500 calories depending on intensity. I've probably got that many calories stored in easy reserves around my body so can probably get away with riding 50 miles without eating at all (or eating nothing more than a few sugary tablets that maybe contain 50-100 calories each) but after that fuel is used up I'm more likely to run into problems.

I'd hazard a guess that three energy gels just weren't enough to keep you fuelled for very long. Once you're out of fuel you might get a few miles on each gel but then you'll hit the same problem as before. Think of it as setting out on a long drive in your car with a full tank of gas - once you're desperately low on gas you need to fill up. If all you do is put a pint of gas in the tank you'll run out again before long. If you stop every 5 miles and put a quart in the tank you'll never run out, as long as you can do more than 20 to the gallon.

The most important thing to do is learn from it, move on from it, and do it again having fixed what broke this time. When I went from a 110 mile ride in a day to bonking and cramping at 60 miles I started to wonder what was wrong with me and it badly knocked my confidence to attempt longer rides. But the second time I did the ride, in awful conditions, I made it through without any problems at all. The difference - I had to stop to change layers (I went through several bands of heavy rain/hail/thunder etc) and since I was stopped anyway I took the chance to eat and drink.

scrapmetal

I rode 10 miles last Sunday - first time on the bike this year, 18 miles on Wednesday and 35 this Saturday. I think if I can ride 60 by mid June I will be in good shape for the century. That 35 was bit struggle, proly because I had nothing but water.

I am not trying for personal time or anything, just want to do it. Last few years I always planned in general and fall surprised me and nothing came out of it. This year I want to have it beyond me before going overseas.

chefisaac

scrap: If I might suggest a few things..... try to be a 80 miler in too if you casn before the century. It will tell you A LOT about bike fit, eating, hydration, etc.

rearviewbeer

Also, it will depend on how you are doing your training rides and how you are riding during the event. My training rides are always alone no drafting taking place. Then in an organized ride, I can find a group or another bike to hide behind for a while. Makes things so much easier. 50 - 60 mile alone can be the same as 100 in a group.

Dehydration can lead to a serious decrease in performance as well.

scrapmetal

Valid points, thank you.

I ride alone and the century will be solo too - except for crowds on the trail of course

chasm54

Unlikely. You can't run out of fuel in 35 miles. I don't eat anything unless I'm going about 50+, and then I'm eating during the first 50 in order to fuel the second. More likely you were just tired. Natural enough, and easily fixed with practice.

gyozadude

Remember that even breathing and sitting on a couch is roughly 30 calories per kg of body weight per day (or around 1.25 cal/kg-hr. So if you're pushing pedals and burning 60 calories/mile at a mod-vigorous pace (for a 100 kg person). (see https://www.livestrong.com/article/13...king-one-mile/), you will burn over 1000 cal/hr for a 100kg person. So you need to REALLY eat on a century and you must replenish electrolytes.

And I'd argue that you need to eat even on a 30 mile ride because most folks don't store enough immediate energy in their bodies to give you 2000 calories of sustained output. It's gotta come from somewhere and I don't think the body converts fat over that fast. That's the equivalent to two slices of Costco Pizza, or a hot dog and chicken bake. You need a LOT of food to supply just 30 miles. To go 100 miles, you more than 3X. So don't be shy. Do the math and compute how much you need to eat to fuel the output and that will tell you how much you need to store.

Now if you're goal is to lose weight, sure, don't eat so much. Do a shorter distance, then rest and eat less. The body will recover and over night, can convert fat back into usable energy and you'll lose weight. But I just don't think it's going to be a good strategy for a century where you need to stay fresh and fueled for 6+ hours in the saddle.

Homeyba

Exactly! Why stop. As far as training goes, quality trumps quantity every time.
If you can do 50 miles on similar terrain or harder to what the century is, at say 15mph, then you should easily be able to do the hundred at a slightly slower pace. The key is training at a pace that is higher than your century or longer distance pace. Then, during your century you won't ride into the red zone and will be able to maintain that pace for significantly longer distances.

sstorkel

Most people don't do 2000 calories of work on a 30-mile ride. At my 14-15mph "all day" pace, my power meter says it requires around 800 calories. If I'm trying to finish as fast as possible, I'll average 16-17mph and maybe use 1000 calories according to the power meter. I currently weigh around 175lbs. For a 30-mile ride, I find that I don't need any additional fuel during the ride, though I'll often eat a 200-300 calorie snack when I return.

scrapmetal

Interesting discussion. Chasm I think you are right, last year all my biking was with nothing but water and the typical Sunday spin was 50 miles or so. I just need to put the time in.

chasm54

I think you're mistaken about this. I weigh a little over 90kilos. My base metabolic rate is around 1900kcal per day (that's about 20 per kilo, not 30 as you suggest). At something close to my lactate threshold I am putting out around 250 watts and burning something in the region of 850kcal per hour. Were I to be able to maintain that pace for thirty miles I'd have finished the ride in less than ninety minutes, because at that output on a flat road I'm doing well over 20mph. There's simply no way I could burn 2000kcal on a thirty mile ride unless it was all uphill and I was going hard enough to be shattered at the end. And at lower intensities, about half my energy will be drawn directly from fat stores rather than glycogen. I will not be in any danger of bonking unless I am riding more than fifty miles.

And of course you need to eat on a century. But there is no point in eating more than 250kcal per hour, because your body can't absorb carbs much faster than about 60grams per hour and carbs are 4kcal per gram. Most people overeat on these rides.

IBOHUNT

I'll add my 2 cents U.S. based on the first official century I just completed.

100 miles
5 hr 52 min 07 seconds
Avg speed 17 mph
4882 calories according to my HR (Heart Rate) monitor


I consumed:

3 Cliff Bars - 750 Calories/ 126g carbs
3 Hammer Gels - 240 Calories / 63 carbs (Note to self. Don't buy Tropical, I don't like the taste)
2 GU Mandarin orange gels - 200 calories / 50 carbs
4 Gatorade soft chews - 66 Calories / 16g carbs
1 Peanut Butter sammich - 344 calories 37 g carbs (from a website)
2 32 oz bottles of Power aid (The zero calorie bit that has only potassium and sodium)

1600 calories / 292g carbs

From using my HR monitor since last July I knew I used between 600 - 800 calories/hr depending on how hard I rode.
Based on that knowledge I determined how much 'fuel' I *thought* I would need.


Thanks chasm54. Any comments on my intake?

chasm54

Well first of all, if that's your first century it's a really good ride. Plenty of people never break 6 hours for a hundred.

As for your intake, if it worked, it worked. And it isn't too far from what the theory suggests you should eat. You could probably have absorbed a few more carbs, but you were fine, so why worry.

It's an interesting illustration of how well we burn fat for fuel. If we didn't, you'd have been toast by about the 70mile point. So you are living proof that we don't have to consume as many calories as we burn, while we're burning them.

Homeyba

Just a note on things like Hammer Gel and GU, these are not meant to be used as a fuel for sustained long rides. They are basically just for a short term boost, like if you are going to do a sprint or hill climb. You're not doing yourself any favors by using them to as a fuel on a century.

IBOHUNT

thanks!

paisan

I agree that using gels solely as a fuel source for long events is definately not recommended but why not in combination with drinks, bars, and whole foods?

scrapmetal

I am thinking hungarian bacon - fully cooked and smoked - eaten with salt and czech home made bread. Beats bars hands down, it was my energy source on mountain hikes.

Besides, I like bacon

Homeyba

You can do that but you want to save those for something like a big climb during your century or a fast finish. Something like that. Generally you want easy to digest foods because as you exercise your body diverts blood from your digestive track to the muscles making digestion more difficult. The harder you ride the more this is so. Chasm was pretty right on with the 250-300 calories and hour that you can digest. If you are ingesting more than that it's not getting digested properly and can lead to digestive problems. While I like bacon too, it's not the best choice for a fuel on a long bike ride. It's not easily digested.

Homeyba

I should note that on long events I do like to chew on beef jerkey. The jerkey itself is not the best for digestion but the juices from chewing it are awesome.

chasm54

LOL. My personal go-to riding food (apart from the inevitable bananas) is a cheese sandwich on wholemeal. I know the cheese fits nowhere in a nutrition strategy while riding, it just happens to be what I want.

Homeyba

Yeah, sometimes you just have cravings that you have to satisfy. I suppose it's your body telling you that you're missing something. I remember on my first Race Across America I had a craving for a drumstick (ice-cream) in Kansas. Ever since on long distance races and rides I'll stop or have my crew stop and get me a drumstick half-way through. Barring those occasional splurges it's best to stick with easily digestible foods. Especially if you are riding hard or long distances.

sstorkel

Hammer Gel is a terrible short-term fuel source, in my experience. Too many complex carbs, not enough simple sugars! I find that a couple of serving per hour works very well as a fuel for moderately long rides, however. I buy the bulk bottles, pour them into 5-serving flasks and carry 1-2 flasks depending on ride length.

Homeyba

Instead of Gels, I would suggest that you would be much better served using a real fuel like Spiz, Sustained Energy or Perpetuem.

Homeyba

Just a note from the Hammer Nutrition website: "The first two listed, Hammer Gel and HEED, have only carbohydrates as their energy source. Choose them for events lasting up to two hours, perhaps up to three hours on occasion."

They are meant to be a short term fuel, not something to get you through a century. Can you do it that way? Sure lots of people do but that doesn't mean that it's the best for your body and efficiency during long events.